The name Shiraz Uppal provokes many responses. Ali Azmat has described him as one of Pakistan’s most versatile songwriters while Atif Aslam credits him for the success of his mammoth Coke Studio cover, ‘Tajdar-e-Haram’ and not Strings.
One of the six Coke Studio producers, Shiraz Uppal is introducing seven new singers in the
upcoming new season of the country’s biggest music show.
Shiraz Uppal speaks to Instep about his upcoming Coke Studio stint as a producer and the fact that film music is creating more opportunities for artists.
The name Shiraz Uppal provokes many responses. Ali Azmat has described him as one of Pakistan’s most versatile songwriters while Atif Aslam credits him for the success of his mammoth Coke Studio cover, ‘Tajdar-e-Haram’ and not Strings. He’s also the force behind other hits like ‘Hona Tha Pyar’ off the Bol soundtrack and ‘Balley Balley’ from Bin Roye.
Critics have hailed Uppal’s solo albums such as Jhuki Jhuki and Ankahi back when releasing records was a norm. And though Uppal has, like several of his contemporaries, sung more than half a dozen songs for Bollywood, he also managed the unlikely by collaborating with master of music A. R. Rahman on the title track of the 2013 Sonam Kapoor film, Raanjhanaa and went on to share the stage with the Academy, Grammy and Bafta winning music giant on one of his US tours.
Uppal had a majestic run in 2015 as he worked on the soundtracks of Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’s animated feature 3 Bahadur, the love saga called Bin Roye and collaborated with Noori for the peppy soundtrack of Wajahat Rauf’s road trip effort Karachi Se Lahore under the label Sur Darvesh.
Shiraz Uppal, having landed an LSA nod alongside brothers Ali Noor and Ali Hamza for the soundtrack of Karachi Se Lahore, made an appearance at the award ceremony in Karachi and cheered on fellow nominees.
Having landed an LSA nod for their effort, Uppal, alongside brothers Ali Noor and Ali Hamza, was present at the award ceremony in Karachi last month where he cheerfully reflected on the bright future of music and how film music, in his opinion, had the power and potential to rescue a “decaying” industry (as Ali Noor noted in his acceptance speech).
2016 will be, in many ways, the most important year in Uppal’s career as he juggles the dual roles of producing film music for the Karachi Se Lahore sequel, Lahore Se Aagey (starring Yasir Hussain and Saba Qamar) and the follow-up to 3 Bahadur called The Revenge of Baba Balaam and makes his debut as one of the six Coke Studio producers in the show’s upcoming ninth season.
In addition to all this, Uppal has also composed and sung one song – ‘Lad Gaiyyan’ - on the soundtrack of Mehreen Jabbar’s upcoming feature film, Dobara Phir Se.
“Up until a year or so ago, the music industry had gone into this minimal space,” Uppal told Instep during the Lux Style Awards where we caught up with him briefly. “I always said that if music is to be revived in Pakistan, it will only be through the movies.”
Film music, said Uppal, is creating more opportunities for artists.
“We’re increasing the number of films every year and films can’t be without music so everyone will get more opportunities to work,” explained the singer-songwriter, composer and producer.
As we head towards the Independence day, Coke Studio 9, having re-shaped the legacy of music in this country and beyond is waiting in the wings to make its annual appearance, a glimpse of which was seen with the tribute track, ‘Aye Rah-e-Haq Ke Shaheedo’ that made its debut this past weekend and has since amassed more than 6 million views.
Aside from Shiraz Uppal, the upcoming ninth season will feature five other producers (Noori, Faakhir, Jaffer Zaidi, Shani Arshad and Shuja Haider) and plenty of stalwarts such as the late Amjad Sabri, Abida Parveen, Saeen Zahoor and many, many more.
For Uppal, the tryst with the country’s biggest music show was an experience he terms as “lovely”. “It was lovely because it was based on live music,” elaborated Uppal as he spoke to Instep. “I have my own studio where I record songs. But this was a different experience because all of us, 15 people, had to play one song in sync, right? It was all live so I had to work hard. We got the best musicians; I built up my own team and am introducing about seven new singers through the show. So I’m really looking forward to it.”
Among his Coke Studio repertoire is a duet with actor Mehwish Hayat whose presence in the show has already created ripples within industry ranks days before the show’s official release. But if anyone can confound expectations, it is Uppal.
Though optimistic about the opportunities that film music is creating, Uppal, on a somber note, added that film music is not as visible as it should be.
“The music is not promoted rigorously as it should be, like the way it is in India. That needs to change,” concluded Uppal.
